Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday announced the dismissal of his intelligence chief ahead of an imminent cabinet reshuffle involving the top security ministries.

The head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Rahmatullah Nabil, was dismissed as Karzai had decided that no intelligence chief could serve longer than two years, the president's office said. "President Karzai commended the dedication Mr Nabil demonstrated in the job over the past two years and wished him success in the new job he would soon take over as an ambassador to a foreign country," the palace said.

The move follows the ouster of two other top security officials, defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and interior minister Besmillah Mohammadi, by the country's parliament earlier this month.Lawmakers said they had failed to stop a resurgence in a 10-year Taliban insurgency and cross-border shelling from Pakistan.

A palace official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Mohammadi would be appointed as the new defence minister while his former deputy Mushtaba Patanag would take over as interior minister.Assadullah Khaled, current minister of border and tribal affairs, would become the new NDS chief, he said.After Wardak was dismissed as defence minister, Karzai named him as senior presidential adviser on army reform.

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